Class Notes: Celebrating the seasons by sharing news you can use

JOE LANDON

3:06 PM, Apr 18, 2011

It seems to me that there's always a reason for a "season" (of some sort) for those of us living and working here in Collier County.

During my time out and about in the community this past week or so, it appears to me, anyway, that the big "season" is ending — not as many people at the Saturday morning farmer's market, no wait list at my favorite restaurant, some empty seats at the movies, and less traffic on our roadways.

So while we're saying goodbye to all of our good snowbird friends for another year, wishing them well and a safe journey "up north," there is another big season on the horizon. Hurricane season is just around the corner, beginning on June 1st. We'll focus on that one later, but right now, it is brush fire season.

Even though there hasn't been a lot of activity (knock on wood), and not much attention paid to brush fire season by the media, we need to share some helpful information for you as parents regarding brush fire season. While there isn't much we can do about any of the seasons here at the school district offices, in the unfortunate event of a brush fire closing a road needing to be traveled by a school bus or two, there IS something we can do to help you. Should that happen, the school will, of course, be calling parents of all of the students who should be on the bus that can't get through, and we'll also post a Late Bus Notice on the home page of the district Web site (www.collierschools.com), and news updates will be placed on the page as well under "Latest District News."

What we especially want you to know is that the Late Bus Notice pops up routinely anytime a school bus may be running more than a half hour behind schedule on any afternoon. It isn't just reserved for brush fire season. So if your child rides a bus home, you might routinely check for a Late Bus Notice on your computer at work or at home around the time your child is due home. If, by chance, more than one bus is running late, a listing of the bus numbers of the buses that are delayed can be found there as well.

Now, if an entire school is dismissing all students later than usual for some reason (including a brush fire) we'll post a similar Late Dismissal Notice on the home page. We certainly hope that we escape brush fire season without incident. We're doing fine so far (again, knock on wood).

It's not every day that a bus runs late for any reason, and yours hopefully may never be late. And it's very rare for a school to delay dismissal of students, but it does happen. We just thought that knowing where you can check to find this info might be helpful to our moms and dads.